Thursday, December 31

As we rapidly approach last call for this year, I thought it the perfect time to look back and reflect on the year 2015. It was an interesting year, all things considered, and a very successful one for me, professionally-speaking...

During the last year I:

Was inducted into the HORROR HOST HALL OF FAME

Won a RONDO AWARD for BEST BLOG (for this blog!)

Produced 29 episodes of THE FANTASTIC FILMS OF VINCENT PRICE

Had 3 short stories published: Emby Press, Horrified Press, and Empire Comics Lab. Two others were accepted into anthologies but still await publication.

Wrote 4 Scary Monsters Magazine columns as well as a piece for the Body Count Zine.

Wrote 10 short film and two feature film scripts

Was a guest on 14 podcast shows

Produced 4 video segments for the STAY COOL GEEK podcast

Did a radio interview with NASHVILLE FILM RADIO

Hosted THE COMEDY OF TERRORS live at Wonderfest with special guests Sara Karloff and Victoria Price

Hosted A NIGHTMARE ON ELM ST., THE GOONIES, & TAILYPO at the Franklin Drive-In

Made a number of live appearances around town for various events and fundraisers.

Thank you to everyone who voted for me in the Rondo Awards, and to the
HORROR HOST HALL OF FAME for the induction. Those are both HUGE honors,
and I'm truly grateful.

This was the first year I actually kept tally of my activities - I started keeping track somewhere around mid-year, and probably missed one or two things along the way. Seeing that list makes me realize that I kept busy, and that makes me proud. I like to stay busy. My goal is to top that list next year - but I'm not really sure if that's possible!

2015 was also a tough year, however, as a number of notable celebrities passed away, including:

Damn. That's a helluva list. Looking at all those names together, that would have made an awesome convention if they had all appeared together, wouldn't it? Lemmy's passing in particular really hit me hard. He is such an iconic figure, a true one of a kind rebel, a legendary figure the likes of which we'll never see again.

In 2011 I wrote the following review of the documentary LEMMY - I still find that documentary just as inspirational, and will miss that giant for some time to come. Hail Motorhead.

Wednesday, December 30

Doc Gangrene Presents hosts an episode of One Step Beyond called THE LAST ROUND starring Charles Bronson as a boxer who keeps seeing a ghostly apparition backstage. Fun short - it aired in 1961, Bronson would have been 39 at the time this was shot. Directed by John Newland, who doesn't get enough credit for the quality of this show. The better episodes were on par with any other horror anthology series.

Sunday, December 27

Looking at this old episode of my program Dr. Gangrene Presents I was struck by just how pretty Cloris Leachman was in her younger days. This came from an episode of ONE STEP BEYOND from 1959 called The Dark Room, and features Cloris as an American photographer in Paris who hires a model with an interesting face to pose for her, who turns out to be a bit on the unusual - and supernatural, side.

Cloris was 33 at the time this was shot. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, on April 30, 1926, Cloris was a Miss America pageant entrant, competing as Miss Chicago. She has had a long career in Hollywood, and is still working to this day at age 89. Genre fans will remember her most notably as Frau Blucher in Mel Brooks' YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, with over 260 credits on IMDB in film and television. Here's to you, Miss Leachman, you've had quite the career!

Thursday, December 24

About this series:
Dr. Gangrene, Physician of Fright and Award-winning Nashville-based TV Horror Host (aka writer/film historian Larry Underwood) explores the films of the merchant of menace, Vincent Price, in chronological order from first to last, approaching them from a scholarly perspective, offering commentary, review and criticism.
In this episode Dr. Gangrene takes a look at the Roger Corman film THE RAVEN, starring Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Hazel Court, and Jack Nicholson.

Wednesday, December 16

In episode #50 of THE FANTASTIC FILMS OF VINCENT PRICE Dr. Gangrene takes a look at the 1962 Roger Corman remake of Tower of London, a darker take on the 1939 Universal film, focusing on macabre elements such as torture, death, and ghostly apparitions. Price stars as the scheming Lord Richard, who covets the throne of England and will stop at nothing to achieve it.

About this series: Dr. Gangrene, Physician of Fright and Award-winning Nashville-based TV Horror Host (aka writer/film historian Larry Underwood) explores the films of the merchant of menace, Vincent Price, in chronological order from first to last, approaching them from a scholarly perspective, offering commentary, review and criticism.

Wednesday, December 9

I recently started revisiting some of the old live shows I did at the cable access station in Nashville TN. The one I'm featuring in this post is from April 26th, 2002. The cable access station had just opened shortly before this, and we were the first chow to broadcast LIVE from the new station. This was actually our second show, and featured a band called THE REVERBIANS and their awesome dancing robot, toy collector Michael Lester, writer Stephen J. Hill, and more!

Now that I finally have a DVR and access to METV I have been a happy Mad Doctor, grabbing a number of old TV series, including Rod Serling's Night Gallery. I was watching an episode the other night entitled "Hatred Unto Death" (with a second very short segment called "How to Cure the Common Vampire") when I spotted a familiar face. Not one of the actors, mind you, I'm talking a famous prop in the background.

The episode (from Season 3, aired May 27, 1973) involves a big game hunter (Steve Forrest) who brings a gorilla back from the jungle to civilization after realizing there is a link between them, a hatred carried on from a past life. At one point the gorilla gets loose in a warehouse, and that's where I spotted the fine fellow featured above - the bear from THE ADDAMS FAMILY TV show. No doubt the prop was sitting around the backlot where Serling and Company filmed and they thought why not throw it in the shot.

Here's a shot of Gomez with his bear - definitely the same one. Night Gallery is perhaps my favorite TV anthology series - although it's hard to pick just one. Karloff's Thriller, Twilight Zone, Tales from the Darkside, Monsters... all great stuff. Perhaps someone will revive the TV horror anthology format. Could be interesting to see some fresh terror tales for today's audiences...!

Friday, December 4

Episode 49 of the Fantastic Films of Vincent Price takes a look at the 1962 Roger Corman anthology film, TALES OF TERROR, featuring three tales based on Edgar Allan Poe short stories - and all starring Vincent Price.

Monday, November 30

Attention Nashvillians, this weekend at the mighty Belcourt Theater, the midnight movie both Friday and Saturday night is:

SAMURAI COP 2: DEADLY VENGEANCE

A followup to the amazingly inept and equally awesome 1991 film Samurai Cop, starring Mathew Karedas and Mark Frazer as a pair of buddy cops who go toe to toe with Robert Z'Dar and the Yakuza in 1990s Hollywood, the long-awaited sequel this time pairs the two men against none other than Tommy Wiseau (The Room) and promises to be just as mind-bendingly insane as its predecessor.

A must-see for bad-cinema fans - come raise a katana in tribute to Robert Z'Dar, who passed away earlier this year.

Sunday, November 29

This weekend I recorded an episode of THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR called The Sign of Satan. Originally broadcast on May 8, 1964, I was excited to find it starred none other than Christopher Lee, and was based on a story by Robert Bloch. Promising!

As the story unfolded I suddenly realized I had read this story - it was from the July, 1938 issue of WEIRD TALES - which was an especially excellent issue featuring works from Bloch, H.P. Lovecraft, Henry Kuttner, Robert Howard, Seabury Quinn, E. Hoffman Price and more. A veritable who's who of Weird Fiction!

The story concerns studio executives who stumble across a foreign horror film that is so realistic it leaves them speechless. They decide they have to have the star, Karl Jorla, in their picture. And they get more than they bargained for, as the scenes depicted in the film were that of an actual black mass, and were never meant for public consumption. Jorla is in fear of retribution from the Satanic cult members.

The screenplay for the Hitchcock show was Barré Lyndon, who wrote the screenplays for a number of films and TV shows, including WAR OF THE WORLDS 1953, The Lodger 1944, and Dark intruder 1965. Interestingly, he also wrote the screenplay for an episode of Boris Karloff's THRILLER I recorded this weekend too called YOURS TRULY JACK THE RIPPER.

Definitely worth tracking down if you get the chance, this is one genre fans - and Lee fans - will want to see. The TV adaptation falls short of the story it's based on, however - but, truth be told, Bloch's evocative writing would be hard to match. You can check out the story for yourself for free on archive.orgHERE

Thursday, November 26

Happy Turkey Day, everyone! Here's a tasty and unique treat for you, the 1962 film CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER, AKA SOULS FOR SALE. One of Price's most unique, and action-oriented, films of his career. This was a fun, and bizarre, episode of THE FANTASTIC FILMS OF VINCENT PRICE...!

Monday, November 23

Happy Birthday to the one and only William Henry Pratt, better known to the world as Boris Karloff, born on this day in 1887. Interestingly, he shares the day with his only daughter, Sara Karloff, who was born in 1938. Boris had a long career in movies and television, and embraced his role as horror icon. Here's to the King of Horror, Boris Karloff.

Thursday, November 12

Episode #46 of the Fantastic Films of Vincent Price is now live and online.

In this episode a man named Francis Bernard (John Kerr) visits a distant seaside castle to investigate the death of his sister, Elizabeth, played by Barbara Steele. Price plays her husband Nicholas Medina, who is living in the castle with his sister Catherine (Luana Anders). How did Elizabeth die, why are the details surrounding her death so hazy, and just what is the secret of the torture chamber in the basement of the castle? An excellent film with a fantastic performance from Price as he descends into madness, this is a must-see for Price fans.

About this series:
Dr. Gangrene, Physician of Fright and Award-winning Nashville-based TV Horror Host (aka writer/film historian Larry Underwood) explores the films of the merchant of menace, Vincent Price, in chronological order from first to last, approaching them from a scholarly perspective, offering commentary, review and criticism.

Sunday, November 8

I was truly bummed to learn of the passing of Gunnar Hansen when I woke this morning. Gunnar was, of course, best known to horror film fans as the chainsaw-wielding lunatic Leatherface in the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, in 1974. I had the pleasure of first meeting Gunnar in 2005. He was in town to appear in director Ben Dixon's film Wolfsbayne (later retitled to Aconite) and doing a signing at a local comic book store, Outer Limits Comics. He was an incredibly nice guy, and funny, as the interview he did for my show, CHILLER CINEMA, shows. We shot a second quick promo for my show that still cracks me up to this day.

A true blow to the horror community, Gunnar will indeed be missed. Farewell my friend.

Saturday, October 31

Here's a special treat for all you monster kids, excerpts from an interview I did recently with actor David Frankham recalling memories of Vincent Price. He tells some wonderful stories of Price and what a generous, wonderful man he was both on and off set. David worked with Price on three films: Return of the Fly, Master of the World, and Tales of Terror. This is a lot of fun, give it a listen if you have a few minutes, you won't regret it...

Tuesday, October 27

The 5th Annual 12 Hours of Terror festival at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville was a smashing success! Over 200 people crammed into the historic 1966 Hall for twelve straight hours of fright and fun. The movies were an interesting mix this year, ranging from sci-fi to horror and schlock. My son Luke and I arrived early and a line quickly formed outside the theater that wound down the building and around the corner.

The festivities kicked off with something new this year, a short set from Nashville's own THE BOO DUDES, a costumed band comprised of a werewolf lead singer/guitarist, Dracula on keys, the Headless Horseman on drums, an alien guitarist, and a mad scientist on the mixing board. What's not to love?

They were fun and funny, entertaining the audience before the first film of the night, John Carpenter's THE THING.

The Boo Dudes then kept the fun rolling as they returned for a second set. Next up on the film-front was a totally insane foreign film called THE BOXER'S OMEN, introduced by the Nashville Scene's Jim Ridley.

Full of blood, vomit, martial arts and magic, this was the type of gonzo feature I've come to appreciate at these shows.

The third feature I had the pleasure to introduce - from 1979, TOURIST TRAP.

Starring Chuck Connors and Tanya Roberts, this is a pretty surreal movie that, while not as full-out insane as the previous film, is still equally-enjoyable for its own merits. Connors is great as a creepy owner of an abandoned tourist trap called Slauson's Lost Oasis and Western Town. Fun film.

As we exited the theater after Tourist Trap we found the lobby
completely transformed. The Belcourt ghouls had been busy, as the lobby
was decorated with bats, blood, black lights and body parts.

The frights continued with a period piece called EYES OF FIRE. Introduced by the Belcourt's Jason Shawhan, this one featured 1700s witchcraft on the American frontier.

Next up was another new feature - the Belcourt's Zack Hall brought his monthly feature WEEKNIGHT REWIND to the Hellcourt for a special segment they called SHRIEKNIGHT REWIND.

Zack brought three films - on glorious VHS - and read the back of the box and showed a showed a short clip from each. Then it was up to the audience, as they voted on which film to see.

I was particularly happy, as one of my all-time favorite films won the day, TRICK OR TREAT, the rock n' roll masterpiece featuring music from Fastway. Great eye opener late in the evening/early morning.

This was followed by some 80s low-budget fun, DEADLY SPAWN. Once again introduced by Jim Ridley, I had always wanted to see this creature feature but never had the pleasure. Talk about getting a lot of bang for your buck, that's exactly the case with this film. Low budget, big effects. Big fun.

Last but certainly not least was the remake of THE BLOB from 1988. Definitely one of the more worthy remakes, I had forgotten just how fun this one is.

As the final moments of the splatacular feature played on the screen the
Belcourt staff encouraged all those still there to gather in front of
the theater for a group photo. As you can see, quite the collection of
intrepid film-goers braved the night.

All of the films were on 35mm with the exception of The Blob and The Thing, which were DCP, and Trick or Treat, which was presented on VHS (VHS is Alive!!). A huge thanks to everyone who attended, and especially to the Belcourt staff who worked so hard to put this event together.

My son took this picture of me posing with Jim Ridley and Jason Shawhan after the final film. It was a great event, and I look forward to next year's event!

My fourth and final Halloween double-feature recommendation for this year is a couple of family-friendly classics. Thanks to the folks at the Stay Cool Geek podcast for asking me to be their 2015 Halloween Gore-spondant!

Wednesday, October 21

Kurt Larson, Kelly Dolan, and the fine folks at the Stay Cool Geek podcast asked me to do a segment for their podcast for the Halloween season. So I've been putting together a recommended double-feature, two quick reviews of films I love and think go well together. I have put together a Youtube video for each segment, and you can listen to them in the actual episodes at staycoolgeek.com.

Friday, October 16

The Belcourt Theater's 12 Hours of Terror movie marathon crawls from the crypt again next Saturday, October 24th, for the 5th annual event.

This year's event promises more frightening features, although the Belcourt is playing coy about this year's lineup, offering only hints. Here's what they've teased so far:

Join us for 12 solid hours of quivering matter, cheap-o splatter,
walking heads, the plastic dead, grisly ghosts and horrible hosts—not to
mention the phantasmagorical rediscovery that's been blowing minds
across the U.S.! All that, plus crazy antics, awesome vintage grindhouse
trailers, live encounters with sinister forces, and the moment of truth
where you the viewer must CHOOSE THE HORROR ABOUT TO UNFOLD—capped by
one of the coolest scare-cinema finds you've never seen!

Interesting...! Out of curiosity, I decided to go back and make a list of all the films they showed at the fest over the years. The following list is pretty impressive!!

2011: Night of the CreepsAbbyAnguishZombieSquirmLady TerminatorReturn of the Living Dead

Thursday, October 15

In celebration of the Halloween season I just posted another vintage Dr. Gangrene episode, this time the Chiller Cinema Halloween Spooktacular 2004, which features the world's first program ever broadcast entirely by pumpkin-light! We also do a Bela Lugosi tribute, travel to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere to take a look at the bat exhibit, and show a music video from the 3D Invisibles for a song called I Want to Dig Up Bela Lugosi.

Monday, October 5

We just released out latest PSA, a retro-style Halloween Safety short featuring kids in classic Halloween costumes. We are all really happy with how it turned out, and hope you all like it.

PRESS RELEASE

Shackle Island Studios and Red Headed Revolution Pictures have unveiled their newest Public Safety Film titled ‘Happy Halloween With Dr. Gangrene.’ The new short film features Larry Underwood as Dr. Gangrene listing a number of safety tips to pint sized trick-or-treaters. Check out the PSA below.
The safety film was written by Larry Underwood and directed by Cameron McCasland. It was filmed in Middle Tennessee and features McCasland’s young children Roxie & Marie McCasland as well as Jessica and Joseph Auguon Drake Jr. whom McCasland had previously worked with on other projects. The poster for the short was designed by J. Kyle Kelly at Villain Place in Nashville, TN. Kelly also shared shooting duties and editing on the project. The cartoon image of Dr. Gangrene is courtesy of artist Jeff Carlson.

Underwood said of the project “Halloween is a magical time of year, and we want kids to have fun and be safe out there. You know what they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, or candy, as the case may be.”

2015 has been a banner year for the horror film making duo. Underwood’s Dr. Gangrene was inducted into the Horror Host Hall of Fame during Horrorhound Weekend in Cincinnati, Ohio. His new series ‘The Fantastic Films of Vincent Price‘ just completed its 44th episode, and he picked up his third Rondo Statuette this time for his ‘Tales From The Lab‘ blog.

McCasland was named Indie Director Of The Year at the 2015 Indieville TV Awards. His feature length slasher film ‘The Lashman’ was the recipient of a Matchflick Flicker Award for Best Throwback film. His newly released short film Tailypo recently picked up honors at the Imaginarium Film Festival. And he has also picked up hardware for his video producing work on several music industry related projects including a Communicator award for his documentary ‘I Heard The Devil Say My Name Out Loud’.

This new public safety film follows in a long line of shorts from collaborators McCasland & Underwood. Their ‘Go Green With Dr. Gangrene’ series ran for several years and received praise from the governor of Tennessee and the Nashville City Council. It also garnered national attention, picking up awards from the AEGIS awards, Ava Awards, MarCom Awards, Blingy Awards, The Accolade Competition, The DV Awards, a Public Service award from the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards, and four Emmy nominations from the Midsouth Chapter of the National Television Academy of Arts & Sciences.

‘Happy Halloween With Dr. Gangrene‘ will air on The CW network as well as the NECAT network locally in Nashville, which currently airs re-reruns of the television program Dr. Gangrene Presents. It will also be screening at a number of Halloween themed events in October hosted by Dr. Gangrene, These include the rock n’ roll extravaganza ‘Dr. Gangrene’s Horror Hootenanny.’ A long standing tradition in Nashville now in its twelfth year. You can also catch it on the big screen, and under the stars, at the Franklin Drive-In in Franklin, KY for a terrifying triple feature of A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Goonies, and McCasland’s Tailypo. Tailypo will also be screening this October at Chattanooga’s Frightening Ass Film Fest and in Nashville at the Yazoo brewery with ‘Cabin In The Woods’ for Monster Sundays presented by Something About Zombies.

In addition to this new short film, Underwood & McCasland are helping fans celebrate Halloween by making their 2010 Emmy nominated made for television movie ‘The Dreadful Hallowgreen Special‘ available to stream for free during the month of October on the Dr. Gangrene YouTube channel. The half hour comedy also features New England’s Penny Dreadful and the legendary Count Gore DeVol. Fans of the show will also find a number of other classic episodes and special content available for the Halloween season.

Larry Underwood has portrayed horror host Dr. Gangrene in Nashville since 1999. He follows a long tradition of horror hosts in Music City including Russ McCown as Sir Cecil Creape and Ken Bramming as Dr. Lucifer. In addition to his duties as a television mad scientist he has a regular column in Scary Monsters Magazine and has published a number of short stories, comic books, and articles for various publications.

Cameron McCasland is an Emmy nominated writer and film producer. Currently his feature length produced film Paternity Leave and short film Tailypo are touring the film festival circuit. The Texas-born film maker lives in Nashville, TN with his wife Jamie, and two daughters.

Saturday, October 3

The comic book anthology Cemetery Plots produced by Dan Johnson, long-time friend and former writer for the Dr. Gangrene Creature Feature show, is planning a second issue. They have started a Kickstarter campaign, and I wanted to share with you ghouls. Check it out, it's got some great incentives, and any help would be appreciated!

Hello, kids! Dan Johnson, editor of Cemetery Plots here again. Week
one of Empire Comics Lab’s Kickstarter has gone really well. Right now,
10% of the amount we need has been raised, but we still have a way to go
to meet our final goal of $3,500.

I want to take a moment to remind you all that we’re holding a special
‘Thank You for Pledging’ drawing. If you pledge any amount to the
Kickstarter between now and 11:59 PM Sunday, October 4, you will be put
into a drawing for a signed first edition of Cemetery Plots #1 and a
one-of-a-kind Thank You sketch of the book’s host, D.O. Mann, by ECL’s
head honcho, Dave Hearn. Now, I do want to remind you all that we are
sold out of first edition copies of Cemetery Plots #1. They are all gone
except for a stash that I have for upcoming convention appearances.
This drawing is going to be your last chance to get one for yourself.
Also, the sketch that Dave is working on is going to be unique. There
will not be another one like it offered at any time.
Also, I did
want to take a moment to remind you all that pledging to the Kickstarter
is a real bargain. For example, if you pledge just $3.00, you’ll get a
copy of Cemetery Plots #1 when we go back and print the second edition,
as well as a Thank You in an upcoming issue of the book. Now think about
that. You’re going to get a heck of a horror comic book for a mere
$3.00. Who else is offering a comic for that price these days? Some of
the major publishes are talking about going as high as $5.00 PER BOOK.
That’s insane! It’s almost as crazy as passing on a book that $2.00
cheaper. And heck, we’re even throwing in the cost of mailing it to you
as well! Again, this is a bargain you can’t afford to pass up.
So! Give what you can and help us make our dream of making the best damn comic books a reality. Thank you.

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"Reads like a literary Tales from the Crypt" - RUE Morgue Magazine

NOW AVAILABLE - Dr. Gangrene's Tales from Parts Unknown, a short story collection featuring 14 stories introduced by the feindish Dr. Gangrene, and all written by his alter-ego Larry Underwood. Get yours now through Amazon.com, available in both print and ebook format